The low point of QPR’s season came nice and early this year with the 7-1 shellacking at Coventry in August, so is the return fixture at Loftus Road tomorrow a chance for revenge or another hiding in waiting?

QPR (11-7-11 LWLDDL 12th) v Coventry (17-7-5 LDLWWL 1st)

Sky’s Super Saturday Brunch Spectacular >>> Saturday January 31, 2026 >>> Kick Off 15.00 >>> Weather – It’s raining in the swamp, again >>> Loftus Road, London, W12

“A horrible horrible feeling in my gut that this might be a ‘wheels come off’ performance.”
“Lose 2-1, confidence low. Hope he plays five at the back for a change.”
“Can’t see anything here. We have a good record at Loftus Road but if he sets us up the same with space for Icon of the Seas to be in the middle then we lose again.”
“Draw. Won’t be expecting anything better from any of our remaining away fixtures.”
“Our captain is having a wobble at the worst possible time. Is he undroppable, looks like he needs a reset to me?”
“I’m not sure what to expect , we are incredibly inconsistent performance wise in parts of matches we can be good and in parts woeful.”
“Our football is scrappy and we lack fluidity , we are defensively all at sea with a midfield offering next to nothing in matches.”
“We are subbing like for like constantly rather than reacting to matches, we also rarely ever switch it up to try and repel overwhelming pressure.”

Which message board do you think I've taken these from? TheLoftforWords collective going into overdrive again after the injury time capitulation to Wrexham? Bed wetter’s switchboard taking calls? Stéphan under pressure? Wholesale changes demanded? Two days of transfer window remaining, sign a fucking striker?

No, in fact these are all from the first two pages of the match thread on Sky Blues Talk ahead of Saturday’s encounter following their loss at bogey side Norwich on Monday. Narrow loss, having led. That’s top of the league Coventry, three points clear of second Coventry, eight points clear of third Coventry, the same Coventry that won the corresponding fixture 7-bastard-1.

To be fair, our site looked much the same in January 2011 when QPR’s record-breaking unbeaten start of 19 games had given way to three defeats, a cup exit, a broken leg for Jamie Mackie and a dire 0-0 at Burnley over Christmas. The sky was falling, Swansea were coming for us, Warnock was too cautious, we were drawing too many games, teams had “figured Adel out”, and a plummet down the league was certain unless the whole team was replaced by deadline day.

In the end Rangers did what Coventry are doing now - a few belt and braces additions of good Championship quality, particularly in attacking areas (see your Romain Esse, raise you Wayne Routledge), and cruise off into the distance. That started with an Adel inspired 2-1 win at home to Cov, this week 15 years ago. God, I feel old.

You’d think having played League Two football while ground sharing at Northampton in the recent past the Sky Blues would just be happy to enjoy the ride. Mind you, while few support bases deserve a good time as much as this lot, you can see why they’d be paranoid.

In 2022/23 they got to a play-off final and lost on penalties to Luton Town. In 2023/24 they came back from three down in an FA Cup semi-final against Man Utd, scored a last minute winner, had it disgracefully removed by VAR, then lost on penalties again. In 2024/25 they beasted Sunderland over two legs and lost in the last minute of the first game with a dodgy back pass and the last minute of the second leg to Dan Ballard's header. I'd never leave the house. No amount of therapy would suffice. Still, worth remembering that every team top of the Championship after 15 games over the last ten years has gone onto win promotion one way or another bar one (and guess who that was? Clue – they almost got relegated instead. You R’s).

QPR’s own loss from a winning position last weekend was, of course, even more dramatic. Leading 2-1 with 11 men on the pitch going into a skinny four minutes of added time Rangers ended up down to ten and beaten 3-2 – a difficult thing to pull off, even if you were trying to do it. Conceding a goal from this position, likewise…

…Does Jimmy Dunne launch the ball away down the field? Does Joe Walsh call and fall on it? No, secret option number three, a chipped clearance with the unfavoured foot of the third favourite for that ball which barely made the edge of the box. Great plan, Bart.

It was a devastating way to lose a football game and the sight of so many people just standing there dumbfounded and staring at the pitch at full time was quite something. What just happened to us? Stéphan rightly pointed out in his pre-match prep this week that QPR were sixth on 90 minutes, and 12th four minutes later, such is the crazy, bunched-up world of the Championship. It’s also the first time we’ve given up points from a winning position since the opening day here against Preston, and the only time we’ve lost a game having led. Just… the manner of it makes everything seem so much worse.

It actually leaves QPR, believe it or not, in quite a similar position to Coventry.

Both teams are in excellent positions their support base would have been delighted with if offered at the start of the season. Both are tantalisingly close to better still – eight points is a chunky lead to hold over the third placed team if you’re in the top two, three points is nothing between QPR and the play-offs with 17 games to go. It’s just the direction of travel recently that isn’t encouraging.

Coventry haven’t won in six away games going back to November and have stopped scoring at their free flowing, early season best – now 12 games since they managed more than two in a game, and one goal or fewer registered in nine of those. The form of Middlesbrough and Ipswich adds to the precarious feel. Likewise, QPR have won only one of eight games (that against hapless Sheff Wed), have also stopped scoring as easily as they were before Christmas (one goal or fewer in six of those matches). Rangers have, truth be told, not been playing well for a while. Still, it is worth remembering what the aims and expectations were for this season at the start and there’s a great piece from our regular Patreon contributor Loftus IQ here that’s worth your time if family and friends have been hiding the sharp objects and taking away your shoelaces this week.

My main concerns about QPR at the moment are mostly future gazing ones. For the last three seasons we’ve made incredibly slow starts, this time including the thrashing at Coventry, apparently in the interest of a “slow burn” approach to fitness and having the team in peak condition for the run in. But last year was derailed by a series of injuries to key players in the spring and the same is happening now, so how do we improve on that if it’s a play-off push we’re hoping for next time? Why does our pitch look like this, and what we doing to make sure that doesn’t happen again? Who from our development squad will be in a position to do first team minutes in 12 months’ time to ease the burden on the starting line-up and help provide better cover when injuries do strike? While losing four players in the first half of your least competitive game of the season was unusual and concerning you’re never going to avoid injuries entirely, so how do we get better cover on our budget? The only one of the cup final winning team of last year to graduate is Keiran Morgan, and he was first team already. What are our plans at goalkeeper, full back and central midfield, which still look the weakest points of the team to me?

If you are minded towards a play-off push this year then there’s a fairly lengthy queue of suitors for the spot, but we are only three points back in that line. The next few weeks (and perhaps months) probably look and feel a good deal like the last half an hour at Wrexham. We’re missing too many warm bodies, too many senior players, to be as competitive as we could be. Can we hang on in the meantime, and do just enough, so that if and when they come back fit and firing for the run in we’re still in touch and able to give it a good go? (Obviously you’d hope we make a better fist of that over the medium term than we did over the short term against Wrexham, ahem.)

I’m certainly not expecting much tomorrow really - despite the narrow defeat at resurgent Norwich on Monday I was actually watching that game thinking how well Coventry were playing until the wheels dropped off after half time - but wouldn’t it just be the most QPR thing in the world to halt a bad run when you least expect them to? To follow last week with the opposite this? Jimmy Dunne, header, corner, backs to the wall effort, 12 minutes of stoppage time, Loftus Road begging and pleading for the whistle? Against a team that beat you 7-1 in the first meeting?

Well, one can dream.

Links >>> Covvy wobbles – Oppo Profile >>> Another steady afternoon from Adel – History >>> Smith in charge – Referee >>> Coventry City — Official Website >>> Coventry Telegraph — Local Press >>> Sky Blues Talk — Forum >>> Sky Blues Blog — Blog >>> Sideways Sammy — Blog >>> The Lonely Season — Blog >>> Sky Blues TV - Classic Match Highlights >>> Access All Areas — Podcast

As expected, Michi Frey has ended his two-year stint with the club with a move to Switzerland’s Grasshoppers for a fee reported as high as £500k (wouldn’t want you measuring me up for a carpet, etc etc). That’s best for all parties really despite our current injury woes and lack of striker options, and has obviously been on the cards since Frey stopped making the bench despite that present situation. He’s clearly not Stéphan’s sort of player and, while you could argue he’s been misused or played out of position or not given a fair crack, what appearances he has made this season could kindly be described as dreadful. A player that needed a pre-season more than anybody else didn’t get one and it showed - he’s moved around this year more like somebody advertising a walk-in bath than a footballer.

Coming the other way, Rangers have made another addition to their squad from Australia this week with left sided defender Christian Pullella joining the development squad. The 19-year-old follows Daniel Bennie and Jaylan Pearman from Perth Glory. Coincidentally all three players, as well as South African centre back Tylon Smith, are with the same agency – Matthew Moore’s Centre Circle Consulting.

Below the fold

Team News: It seems Ronnie Edwards is likely to finally make his second QPR debut at the fourth time of asking with Amadou Mbengue serving a one match ban for his red card against Wrexham. Mbengue would have been banned for two games anyway having accumulated ten yellow cards, but as I understand it he’s now back on nine and that ban will come in at his next yellow – so, Charlton on Friday night. Koki Saito is back in some form of training. Justin Obikwu was apparently set for a debut against the club he left last week but has already injured himself in training – you really couldn’t make it up. Ilias Chair will return to training next week but remains sidelined along with Jonathan Varane, Kwame Poku, Rumarn Burrell, Ziyad Larkeche, Jake Clarke-Salter and Esquerdinha.

Brandon Thomas-Asante has today been banned for three games for his elbowing offence at Norwich on Monday, missed by the officials at the time. Good news for QPR, against whom he has won five and drawn two of seven encounters without losing, scoring three and assisting three in the process. Bad news for match previewers who had a whole rant planned out about how Paul Smyth got banned retrospectively last season for an offence the referee did see at the time and award a free kick, and yet this one gets overlooked. Jack Rudoni has an even more formidable record against QPR (see form section) but he sat out that game at Carrow Road injured. Fingers crossed. There as well.

Elsewhere: It’s been quite the exodus from Bristol City this January with Zak Vyner’s impending departure to Wrexham taking them up to eight departures including Harry Cornick, Anis Mehmeti and Max O’Leary. This at the same time as receiving £11m in sell-on fee from Antoine Semenyo’s move from Bournemouth to Man City. Manager Gerhard Struber says: "We have eight outgoings and two players in. The balance is not on the right level. Everyone knows that. We have to do something. The time is close right now. It's a big responsibility, not only for me but much more from the management." Tense times ahead of a Friday night televised visit from Derby, although Doctor Zoidberg has arrived on loan from Middlesbrough at the eleventh hour.

The Saturday earlies are led by Leicester hosting Charlton. Marti Cifuentes was never likely to survive a home defeat to Oxford United and becomes the fifth manager dismissed by the Foxes since Brendan Rodgers was sacked there in April 2023. Caretaker Andy King stands a good chance of getting off to a good start against Nathan Jones’ Addicks who were soundly beaten 4-0 at Millwall last week and looked bloody awful doing it. I don’t want to say that result has sparked a panic at The Valley but they’ve signed Conor Coady on loan from Wrexham. Can Rumarn Burrell play on one leg next Friday? Might still be enough. Leicester haven’t done a double over Charlton since 1981/82.

Wrexham’s last-minute miracle at Loftus Road has lifted the Red Dragons to sixth in the second tier, their highest league position since November 1979, and they really should be able to build on that at Sheff Wed who finally said goodbye to Barry Bannan this week. The Owls remain on -7, 37 from safety with just 54 left to play for, on a club record run of 22 without a win and having lost each of the last five and scoreless in the last six.

Stoke v Southampton is a goat rodeo of two chronically out of form sides. The Potters have three wins from 12 (second at the start of that run they’re now tenth) while the Saints have one win in nine. Stoke haven’t done a double against Southampton since 1967/68.

Some intriguing games in the context of the top six among the afternoon kick offs. Ipswich are continuing to take the Scott Parker route to promotion by spending money on players they don’t really need (Dan Neil from Sunderland the latest incomer) while Preston are finally getting stuck into their annual spring collapse– they’ve lost their last four games without scoring a goal and have won four of the last 15.

Boro (2nd) at home to Norwich (15th) we thought would be the other way round in our pre-season predictions, but it’s now a fight between two in form teams. Boro have won eight of 12 games under Kim Hellberg including each of the last four scoring 13 goals, to move within three points of leaders Coventry. Norwich are quickly leaving the relegation whirlpool behind them, winning four in a row and seven of 14 under Philippe Clement to go four points above the dotted line.

Millwall, in fifth, look good for a play-off spot in the Championship for the first time since returning to the level in 2017 – they’ve finished eighth four times. A home game with Sheff Utd is tough but winnable for a team that has won 21 home games since the start of last season (only Cov, 25, have more in that time). Hull, next to them in fourth, really should build on their own impressive season with a trip to Blackburn. Rovers are now in the bottom three and unlikely to escape from their any time soon with no wins in seven. The Tigers, by contrast, have won three in a row and seven of nine. They haven’t won four in a row in five years.

Watford’s play-off push has stalled somewhat with no wins in three following four straight victories. They might get back on track this weekend against Swanselona who are also stuttering from their own recovery, now only one win in four and have lost seven of the last eight away games.

Down at the bottom Oxford are unbeaten in three under Matt Bloomfield and the surprise 2-1 win at Leicester last week was just their fifth away win in two seasons since returning to this level. Birmingham at home looks difficult, but Brum are very firmly a St Andrew’s team – sixth in the home table, 19th in the away.

Portsmouth v West Brom won’t be a high-quality affair. Pompey have stopped losing but are the division’s second lowest scorers (24) so there are too many draws. West Brom stopped their rot with a draw of their own at Derby last week but haven’t won since they beat us at Christmas four games ago. It’s a big win for Pompey this, if they can get it.

Referee:Occasional Premier League Josh Smith was due to referee our pre-Christmas defeat at Middlesbrough before being replaced by David Webb. It means his last QPR fixture was a year ago when we lost 1-0 at Coventry in the last minute. Details.

Form

- The chaotic and heartbreaking end to the Wrexham game was tough to take for QPR and their fans, but it’s the first time the R’s have led a game and gone on to lose it since Portsmouth at home last October. It’s only the second time this season the R’s have dropped points from a winning position and the first occasion since the opening day against Preston. Only Middlesbrough have a better record once they go in front in games.

- Nevertheless, the defeat means the 3-0 against rock bottom Sheff Wed is QPR’s only win in eight games. Rangers had won five out of six at Loftus Road prior to last Saturday, but have now lost two of the last three on their own patch.

- Only Blackburn and Sheff Wed (both zero) have won fewer games than QPR since Boxing Day.

- Coventry are looking to return to Premier League for first time since 2001. They had spent 34 consecutive seasons in top division before relegation in 2001.

- To do that Coventry began the season unbeaten in 12, winning eight including the first meeting between these sides by seven goals to one. The Sky Blues followed a first defeat of the campaign at Wrexham with another five straight wins and by Boxing Day had lost just two of their first 23 league games.

- Things have gone slightly awry of late, though. Coventry have won two of their last six league games and four of their last 11 to allow Middlesbrough to close to within three points at the top of the table while Ipswich are eight back in third. On Boxing Day Frank Lampard’s side were eight points clear of second and 13 of third.

- The problems have largely been away from home. A 2-1 defeat for Coventry at Norwich on Monday night, in a game they led, was a sixth away game without a win (L3) and seven in all comps (L4).

- Coventry are the EFL’s top scores with 62 goals, 14 more than any other Championship side. Despite their recent blips away from home they’ve also scored more on their travel than any other Football League team – 31.

- Coventry have won only four of their last 11 Championship games, dropping 18 points in process. This after dropping just 11 points from opening 18 games. They are 15th in the form table since December 29. Lose here and it’ll be their first back-to-back defeats of the season.

- QPR’s top scorer is Rumarn Burrell with ten, the first Ranger to reach double figures since fellow Jamaican Andre Gray in 2021/22. However Burrell is sidelined until march at the earliest. Coventry have Ellis Simms and Haji Wright (both 11 in all comps) in double figures while Brandon Thomas-Asante, who scored twice in the first meeting, also has ten Championship goals.

- Jack Rudoni has scored more (four) and assisted more (four) goals against QPR than any other opponent. Those eight goal involvements have come in just seven appearances for Huddersfield and Coventry. He is unbeaten across those appearances – W4 D3.

- Based on xG on target faced, Coventry’s Carl Rushworth has prevented more goals than any other goalkeeper in the Championship this season (+6.6 – 32 conceded from 38.6 xG on target).

- QPR have won 40 of 119 meetings with Coventry with City winning 50 and 29 draws.

- QPR are winless in three meetings with Coventry having drawn at home (1-1) and lost away (1-0) in 2024/25. Rangers did the double over the Sky Blues in 2021/22 under Mark Warburton (2-0 home, 2-1 away) but have since won only one of seven meetings (2-1 on the last day of 2023/24 under Marti Cifuentes).

- Coventry are unbeaten in three visits to Loftus Road having lost the previous three and won none of the previous five.

- Ominously, Coventry have scored ten goals against QPR in a season before. In 1963/64 Rangers lost 4-2 at Highfield Road and 6-3 at Loftus Road.

- Coventry led the Championship after 15 games which over the last ten years has meant promotion in every season bar one - QPR were top in 22/23 and ended up 20th, winning only five more games.

Prediction

In our Prediction League for 2025/26 we’ll once again be handing out prizes for being top at Christmas and overall winner from The Art of Football - sample the merch from our sponsor’s newly extended QPR collection here. Monners was the big mover in the post-Stoke predictions, though he said he had “Catholic guilt” for correctly calling a dire 0-0. QPR_Hibs won last season’s Prediction League at a canter and is lending his thoughts to this year’s previews…

“I saw an advert on a social media website today for some sort of double-sided sticky tape. The woman on the ad said that it had ‘literally’ saved her life. They didn’t go into any further detail as to whether it was a medical emergency or some type of near fatal accident, but I have a strong suspicion that she may have meant that the product had ‘metaphorically’ saved her life. I mean, you don’t want things that have been stuck on a wall falling off and smashing on the ground with a bang. That would literally be quite irritating.

“I watched the U18 cup match against Brighton on Tuesday night and thought we put up a good fight, despite the Premier League side being superior in most areas. I was impressed with the performances of Kalen Brunson, Teddy Tarbotton and with the set-piece delivery of Cory Adjetey-Brew. I notice that Tarbotton has subsequently signed his first professional contract with us. I didn’t understand why a lot of the Brighton youngsters were not wearing shin pads in that game, as I thought it was an FA requirement.

“I’m going to skip over last week’s debacle against Wrexham, save to say that I liked Vale in the ‘ten’ role until he obviously tired in the second half. This Saturday we have the dreaded return fixture against Coventry, and you won’t need any reminding of what happened at the CBS Arena back on August 23. Coventry have been brilliant at home this season, but there are indications that things have not been so great on their travels. In fact, they have not won in any of their last six league away fixtures. Never fear though, their visit to Loftus Road has been bolstered by three January striker signings in the form of Markelo (permanent,) Esse and Yang (loans.) There are also rumours that top scorer Brandon Thomas-Asante is giving up his martial arts career (speciality move: the flailing elbow) to concentrate on playing football.

“Expect to see Saito back in the QPR squad, Edwards starting in defence (CB or RB?) and a bunch of the Development Squad on the bench. At time of writing, Obikwu is being assessed for fitness, and it would be a huge boost if was able to play. Will Julien make an unenforced substitution before the 70th minute this week? Answers on a postcard please to the usual address. Will QPR come away with a much-needed victory? I just can’t see it, unfortunately.”

QPR_Hibs Prediction: QPR 0-2 Coventry. No scorer.

LFW’s Prediction: QPR 1-0 Coventry. Scorer – Jimmy Dunne

If you enjoy LoftforWords, please consider supporting the site through a subscription to our Patreon or tip us via our PayPal account loftforwords@yahoo.co.uk.

Pictures - Reuters Connect

Recent Stories